1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a card connector assembled in an electronic device for connecting to a card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices, such as digital cameras, portable audio devices, and mobile phones are configured to be used with a memory card having a semiconductor device installed. Recent memory cards are provided in miniature sizes compared to the previous generation of memory cards. Further, various miniature memory card connectors are also provided for attaching the miniature memory card.
For example, these miniature memory cards are developed to adapt to increasing functions of the mobile phone. Recent mobile phones have a miniature memory card connector for enabling usage of the miniature memory cards.
Mobile phones are used in many different situations. For example, the mobile phone may be carried around by the user, operated in a folded state, or connected to a data reading device. Therefore, the miniature memory card is also attached to or detached from a corresponding miniature memory card connector in various situations. Further, the miniature memory card may be difficult for the user to handle because the length of one side of the memory card is extremely small (e.g., approximately 10 mm). Therefore, compared to the previous generation of memory cards, many aspects are to be considered when designing the current miniature memory cards.
Typically, the miniature memory card connector includes a slider. The slider has a leaf spring for elastically locking to a groove part provided at a side surface of a miniature memory card. The slider locks with the inside of the miniature memory card connector by an engaging mechanism using a heart cam and is forced to protrude from the miniature memory card connector by the leaf spring. The miniature memory card is attached to the miniature memory card connector in a manner elastically locked to the slider by the leaf spring. The friction between a pad of the miniature memory card and a contact of the miniature memory card connector also serves to maintain the attached state of the miniature memory card. In a case of ejecting (detaching) the miniature memory card from the miniature memory card connector, the user first pushes the miniature memory card further into the miniature memory card connector with his/her finger and then releases the miniature memory card so that the locked slider is released and partly projects from an insertion slot together with the miniature memory card. In this projected state, the miniature memory card is still attached to the miniature memory card connector by being elastically locked to the slider by the leaf spring. Then, by pinching and pulling the protruding part of the miniature memory card with the user's fingertips, the miniature memory card can be released and pulled out from the miniature memory card connector (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-351884).
Because the miniature memory card is small and thin, it is difficult to increase the amount of locking force applied from the slider to the miniature memory card in a case of attaching or detaching the miniature memory card with respect to the miniature memory card connector.
Therefore, in a case where the leaf spring of the slider becomes bent due to permanent deformation, the locking force of the slider with respect to the miniature memory card decreases and causes the miniature memory card to emerge and fall out from the miniature memory card connector. For example, in a case where the miniature memory card is undesirably ejected from the miniature memory card connector due to shock or the like applied to the miniature memory card attached to the miniature memory card connector, communications of the mobile phone containing the miniature memory card may be adversely affected. Further, once the miniature memory card falls out from the miniature memory card connector, the miniature memory card may become lost due to its small size.
The miniature memory card connector according to a related art example is designed to prevent the leaf spring of the slider from being bent by permanent deformation as long as the miniature memory card is inserted into the miniature memory card connector in a regular manner.
However, the miniature card connector according to the related art example is not sufficiently designed to cope with a miniature memory card being inserted in an irregular manner (for example, inserted in a slanted manner). Since some types of miniature memory cards have a tip (tip toward the inserting direction) that is narrower than the insertion slot of the miniature memory card connector, these types of miniature memory cards are very likely to be inserted in a slanted manner.